Hotel Fire
by ness2
Summary: short. simple. so's the author. jh.
1. arrival

Title: hotel fire Author: ness Disclaimer: not mine  
  
  
  
Her cheek chilled to the bone where her face had rested on the cold window, a crick in her neck and her eyeballs feeling dipped in sand, Jake squinted round the coach. "Are we nearly there yet?"  
  
"Only a few more miles, man. I don't know how you slept through that."  
  
Jake shuddered. "The frat boy rendition of ten green bottles. Oh yeah what a tragedy I missed it. Did Finn say it was teambuilding?"  
  
Hamilton smiled. "More than that, he convinced us it was teambuilding."  
  
Jake looked at him.  
  
"Well he convinced Will."  
  
Jake smiled.  
  
Will looked faintly huffy. "This is our first big crew event. Lots of schools will be here. You ought to take it more seriously."  
  
Scout decided to back his roomie up. "Yeah Jake you've got such a Ryder of an attitude. How come you're on the team?"  
  
"I'm not a joiner" Jake responded tranquilly. "For me this whole deal is just a great reason to yell abuse at over muscled cro magnons ..so, Ham" turning to him"got the lowdown on how the hotel rooms are gonna be assigned?"  
  
Hamilton was hoping he'd get to share with Jake as he knew they'd be put two to a room. He could get on all right with any of the guys but Jake was the best company, unfazeable, funny, endlessly interesting. Sometimes he worried that Jake tolerated him only out of politeness. His default facial expression was pretty neutral. Ham knew he went out of his way to hook up with Jake far more often than Jake did with him. But then they'd be arguing about music or teasing each other about game skills and Jake's face would be lit up with a big incredible grin and Hamilton would think - he's just as glad to be with me - "Didn't you, uh, find out yourself?" he asked knowingly.  
  
"Nah. Spent my free periods writing up class notes. Since we're away till Monday. So? Who's with who?"  
  
Hamilton shrugged. "Parentals couldn't tell me. Finn's worked it out."  
  
Scout rolled his eyes. "Hey! Finn?"  
  
"Mr Calhoun?"  
  
"How're the rooms assigned?"  
  
Jake laughed at herself and Hamilton. "Ooh. The direct question technique." Then she stopped laughing. - I'm with Will? Maybe I should have teased him less about being a brown noser. Huh. He doesn't look too overjoyed either - 


	2. good night

Title: Hotel Fire Author: ness Disclaimer: not mine.  
  
Jake had longer than expected to wash and get into suitably enveloping sleeping clothes. She had primed Will with a paleontology museum the net said was on the local campus and sent him in Finn's direction to talk about it. The geek in her hoped he could talk the teacher into arranging a visit. Whatever, he was taking ages.  
  
- great. Plenty of time to argue with myself about keeping this idiot binder on .. I'd better - She sat staring at the contents of her pockets on the bedstand. Wallet. Comb, vital. Keys. Swiss army knife. - the last is a dead giveaway that I learned how to be a boy from books. I must be the only guy in Rawley who could get stones out of horse's hooves if I needed to -  
  
"Hey Will. You were a while."  
  
"Stopped off at 314" (at her look) "Scout and Ham's room. Scout was onto room service. Hamilton was dribbling over the menu."  
  
"Hamilton likes to eat" said Jake. "Is that a problem?" - he's totally the right size on it - she thought. - he's a pleasure to look at. Yesterday at crew he looked so fine.. -  
  
"I'm not criticizing" said Will. "It just seemed characteristic of both of them."  
  
Jake kept her head turned away while he undressed.  
  
Will: "It's afterhours for room service. Afterhours stuff. Beyond the call of duty stuff. Stuff people didn't intend to do. That would be Scout."  
  
"Manipulative you mean." - is this some weird kind of peace offering? Why's he abusing Scout? I thought they were friends -  
  
"In a good way. He has a good heart."  
  
"Yeah he seems like an okay guy." Jake climbed into bed congratulating herself on a peaceful end to the day.  
  
"Uh, Jake? You going to bed like that?"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, what about a quilted fleece if you're not warm enough."  
  
"Jeez I knew you had body issues but this is stupid" he muttered.  
  
"Just shut up Krudsky" dropping any self congratulation. - not peaceful, and not the end of day - she thought a couple of hours later. The rest en route had taken the edge off her fatigue and she was too nervy to fall asleep. When the fire alarm went off she was up and grabbing her stuff in a minute. Will was right behind her. 


	3. lets go

Title: fire and foolishness Author: ness Disclaimer: the copyright is someone else's. Email: nessbut@yahoo.co.uk Category: j/h Rating: PG-13  
  
The alarm was still audible when they got into the grounds. Guests and staff were milling round randomly yelling to each other. The coach of a rival team had a flashlight and was swinging it in all directions.  
  
"Chaos" murmured Jake. "Hey Will you're shivering."  
  
"You're dressed for this more than I am."  
  
"Look that cafe across the road is open. Can you get a hot drink for both of us? I'll stay and tell Finn you got out of the building."  
  
"Uh."  
  
"Chocolate for me."  
  
"Uh. I can't take your money."  
  
"What? It's a cocoa. I'm not gonna come back in ten years and claim your firstborn." She was scanning the crowd for Hamilton and she hadn't seen him yet. Or Scout.  
  
When Will came back Jake wasn't there. She spent a couple of minutes searching through the crowd then went back in.  
  
She was telling herself - Setting off the alarm was almost certainly some moron student prank. I can see Eric doing it, totally. And there was no smoke or flames on the way down. And if I'm going back in - she was across the lobby by now - - better sooner than later. Cuz if there is a fire (that I don't believe in) I don't wanna waste time messing around.  
  
Don't use the lift. Will found the fire stairs when he was doing his puppyish I've-never-been-in-a-hotel-before routine. Here they are. This is a false alarm, right? -  
  
Up a flight of stairs. Room numbers starting with 2. Faint smell of burning plastic. - that'll be my imagination - Jake told herself. - some kind of psychosomatic thing. Oh god. What am I doing?-  
  
- Down another corridor. Working out the number sequence. - if Ham and Scout are outside right now it's gonna be so ironic Alanis Morrisette is gonna have to rerecord her song -  
  
- the corridor's getting smoggy this direction. Go left now. Someone left their door open when they bolted. I can use their bathroom; I can drench my sweater and breathe through it -  
  
- this is a localised fire, ok, gonna burn itself out. Someone just panicked with the alarm. No big deal. Room 214. Their room's directly above. Can't go back now. I have obviously assimilated way too much macho crap. (I'm really tempted to go back.) -  
  
Another flight of fire stairs. The doors were hot to the touch.  
  
- oh god - thought Jake, terrified. She hadn't fully believed in the fire till then. Back on the hotel corridors she couldn't see an inch. It was all black rolling smoke.  
  
She felt her way along the wall. - have I gone past it? I should be there by now: damn. No not damn. It's a fire axe. It's a damn big fire axe and I get to use it. If I was 5 years old or male I'd be ecstatic - Jake swung the axe tentatively. 


	4. where's the exit?

Title: fire and foolishness Author: ness Disclaimer: fanfic. nonprofit. illegal. email: nessbut@yahoo.co.uk Category: j/h Rating: PG-13  
  
Scout and Hamilton, heavy sleepers both, did not wake when Jake hammered at the door, and only stirred at the axe.  
  
The air was much clearer, only a light haze in their room. She rushed across to shake shoulders, then brought a toothmug of water from the basin to douse them. That brought the boys round but it took a couple of minutes (time Jake begrudged) to get them to understand about the fire.  
  
"I haven't seen any flames" she admitted, using her swiss knife to tear off towel lengths and putting them in the sink.  
  
"What is that?" asked Scout of the knife.  
  
"It was my grandma's" snapped Jake. The taps weren't running anymore and she needed to dampen the cloth to breathe through. Fortunately Scout never went far without a supply of vitamin free soda and sure enough there was a nearly full litre of coke in a prominent position. She poured it over the towels and handed Scout the axe. It was too Kate Winslet for her.  
  
"C'mon guys."  
  
Hamilton's eyes widened when they got into the smoggy corridor. Oily smuts flew round like snowflakes and landed on their skin. He had been all quiet while Scout was pissing and moaning.  
  
"You okay Ham?" Jake laid a hand on his arm.  
  
"Sure" he said. - hey does Jake think he needs to protect me? I may not have travelled the world and stuff but I'm not a little kid -  
  
Jake saw the frown. - oh gawd he's on that manly pride thing. I analysed that thing before starting this - "Well I'm freaking out" she said. "Is the air getting hotter?"  
  
Scout who was a step ahead, jumped back into them. "Whoah!"  
  
The stairwell ahead was roaring with flames. They ran to a firedoor down a cross corridor. Jake was worried. The smoke was so thick.  
  
"Stairwells are a big place for fires because you know the oxygen and stuff -" Jake broke off. Scout had punched her.  
  
"I don't need to know this" he snarled.  
  
"Because, you know, he saw Backdraft." Hamilton's drawl made both Jake and Scout furious. - I do a slow emotional reaction. Well I'll freak out tomorrow - Hamilton smiled. Not that the others could see.  
  
These stairs were bare, nothing to burn, but they only went down one flight.  
  
"How come?" Scout glared at the other two as if they'd designed the hotel.  
  
"This is above the restaurant you mouthbreather." Hamilton looked like it was completely obvious.  
  
"Wait wait wait. You have a 3d map in your head?"  
  
"Just a sense of direction." - wow Jake's eyes are intense (what am I thinking?)  
  
"We've gotta get down another flight. What direction do we go?" 


	5. tomboy

Title: fire and foolishness Author: ness Disclaimer: I disclaim ownership. Email: nessbut@yahoo.co.uk Category: j/h Rating: PG-13 Thanks: Big thanks to Elisheva for encouragement.  
  
"You sure about this?" Scout asked.  
  
"I'm sure about this." Hamilton slammed the door behind them.  
  
"Because you don't look sure about this."  
  
"Scout, he's sure about this. Look. Window. Balcony. Great outdoors."  
  
"We're a storey up from the ground."  
  
"So we climb down. It's like a ladder for godsake. The outer wall's all .." Jake did a weird flailing gesture "handholds."  
  
"It's designed to get climbing plants up it." Hamilton was looking distant.  
  
"Yeah probably." Jake studied him.  
  
"Well c'mon then" said Scout.  
  
"You first. We'll be right after." Jake continued to watch Hamilton.  
  
Since they'd left the boy's bedroom it had all been smoke and emergency lights. Now she could see his face again. - unreadable as ever of course. Can't blame the grime either. He's got that aloof thing going. We don't have time for this - "What?"  
  
Hamilton grimaced. "I feel bad about this now."  
  
"Spill."  
  
"I have issues."  
  
"Issues" Jake repeated flatly.  
  
"Height issues. Vertigo. I don't think I can do this."  
  
Jake exhaled hard enough to set off a coughing fit. - sooty phlegm. ew. I disgust myself - "Hamilton" she said when she could. "You've got to. Nobody can do this for you. But I'll stay with you, every step."  
  
Hamilton thought - he's smaller than I am, and kind of scrawny. If I lose my hold I don't see him being able to help. Oh. Can't say that -  
  
"Theres a lot of light coming in from the trucks on the ground. It's like, floodlighting or something. We'll be able to see everything as we go down."  
  
Hamilton winced. - this is not helping -  
  
Jake pulled him to the edge. "Come on." She scrambled over and stood on the edge of the balcony holding onto the railing from outside. Facing Hamilton she glanced sidelong down at the wall's surface. "Yeah, okay."  
  
"Okay?"  
  
Jake stared at him. "Follow me."  
  
Hamilton was paralysed.  
  
"Don't you have any issues around burning to death?" Jake snapped. "Just sit on the rail. I'm this side of you. Swing round .. I've got you. Feel down with your leg. Got it? Riiight. I haven't got the reach you have so I'm gonna have to move to one side of you. Can you feel my hand on your back?"  
  
"Don't you need it? you know, to hold on?"  
  
"I'm cool. If I talk you down is that annoying or helpful?"  
  
"Please."  
  
"Hey I talk to you the whole time anyway." - oh look this is Jacqueline getting body contact with Hamilton. Note to self: put more small print in my wishes in future. This is not my original smutty girlish dream - "Reach over with your left foot for a lower toehold."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"I have my arm round the other side of you. You're not going anywhere."  
  
Hamilton didn't move.  
  
"You're really not going anywhere."  
  
"I can't. What are you doing?"  
  
"Moving down a step. Your left foot goes two inches left and then skim the wall downwards. Put your weight on the edge of the foot nearest the wall."  
  
The climb seemed to take forever. Will and Scout helped them the last few feet.  
  
"Vertigo huh" began Scout.  
  
"One word of teasing and I'll kick your ass" Jake said with absolute sincerity.  
  
"No. I will." Hamilton wasn't meeting anyone's eye but he spoke firmly.  
  
"OK, fine" said Will. "We should check in with Finn as fast as possible. He had to contact Rawley. Your parents are frantic."  
  
Jake squinted and winced. To her own surprise, for the first time she wasn't hoping that this was the start of her mom coming to get her out. She was starting to wonder how being a boy would play if her masquerade ran on. 


	6. end

Title: fire and foolishness Author: ness Disclaimer: I don't own them. eMail: nessbut@yahoo.co.uk Category: j/h Rating: PG-13 Thanks: Elisheva  
  
Everybody got out. The displaced guests were crammed into hotels all round town.  
  
Jake, Hamilton, Will and Scout ended the night all in the same room. Jake was brushing her teeth compulsively to get the horrible taste of melted plastic out of her mouth. All her clothes stank and Will was ranting at her.  
  
"You were so dumb Jake."  
  
- maybe I should try brushing my tongue as well and then I'd taste minty -  
  
"..stupid, Jake."  
  
"I know Will."  
  
"When the alarm goes you get out and you stay out. The emergency services will thank you for it. They're the guys trained for this stuff."  
  
Hamilton was thinking - this is the tone my dad uses. He's standing the same way. Is he really our age? - (He'd had this thought before, and told Jake, and Jake had said "Nah. He's a botox'd up 40 year old infiltrating class on behalf of the faculty." Hamilton: "His contact's Finn." "Yeah, and that battered old bike was given him by Q and what it does is .." Hamilton: "He goes into exotic bars in Europe and the waiter goes Krudsky. Will Krudsky. What kind of secret agent is that?" "Ryder so needs a white persian cat.")  
  
Hamilton snapped back into it to hear Scout say "Well I'm glad Jake came for us because god knows whether the firemen would have been in time."  
  
Will: "If things hadn't gone OK you'd have been an extra person for them to rescue, an extra burden."  
  
"I know. I've been thinking that."  
  
"And it was sheer luck things turned out"  
  
"Stop. Shut up Krudsky. Do you think noone else has the imagination to work out a worstcase scenario? Believe me. They're running through my head, and Scout's head, and Hamilton's head. Right now. So shut up."  
  
Will was looking ashamed and guilty.  
  
"Tonight's been bad for all of us. You too" Scout said tiredly.  
  
"Did you, uh, did you tell Finn I went back?" Jake had dropped her head forward but was still watching Will's face from under her lashes.  
  
"If I had he'd be making the worstcase speech to you right now."  
  
"Only more pompously" Hamilton offered from his corner.  
  
"With gratuitous Lit. quotes" Scout agreed.  
  
Will glared at them then told Jake "I said I'd lost touch before leaving the building. That way you were on the firemen's to-find list but Finn didn't have you down as a dangerously idiotic.."  
  
"Yes yes. I get the rest. Thanks."  
  
"Speaking of thanks, I didn't, uh, I didn't.."  
  
Jake listened carefully to Scout. Her lips twitched. "Actually. You punched me." She thought - if I were a nicer person I'd let people off the hook at times like this. Maybe. Sometimes -  
  
Hamilton explained to Will. "That was when Jake explained thermodynamics to Scout. In a burning building."  
  
Will giggled.  
  
Jake: "Yeah well I babble when I'm panicking. Hey Ham. You haven't thanked me either."  
  
"I'm trying to think of a way." Jake caught his eye and remembered holding him. She looked away hoping desperately she wasn't blushing. - he thinks I'm a boy. Can't flirt. Just enjoy being friends. He's so cute. He's such great company. Isn't that enough? (Well, no.) But if I tell him .. he's got some truly weird ideas about girls ..if I tell him, everything's that much more out of control. And even IF I tell him and then IF he's relatively ok with it that is he doesn't tell the school, that doesn't mean big romance. Just more of the platonic thing with a side order of grievance cos I lied -  
  
When she looked back Hamilton was still staring at her. "You know I'd do the same for you."  
  
"Oh no. Will's just explained how stupid a stunt it was." Jake was half laughing, trying to keep it on a joking level.  
  
"What can I say." Hamilton was looking intensely at his friend, trying to connect with him. "I'm an idiot."  
  
END 


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